Barbara Paterson is the Canadian sculptor who created the first permanent monument on Parliament Hill which commemorates Canadian women. Ms. Paterson developed the bronze statues known as the Woman are Persons! Monument (Famous 5 Monument). The memorial was Commissioned to honour the Persons Case and the Alberta women who launched the legal challenge to gain recognition of Canadian women as "persons" elegible to sit in the Senate.

Barbara Paterson is an Albertan who studied at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, where she received a Diploma of Arts with a major in Painting in 1957. In 1988 Barbara graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, with a major in Sculpture. Her work includes sculptures of welded steel, bronze, wax and stone. In September 1997 Barbara was selected to create two monuments to the Famous Five through a national competition in Canada. The first Famous Five Monument was unveiled by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson in Calgary at the Olympic Plaza to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the Persons Case on October 18, 1999. The monument in Ottawa was unveiled at a ceremony on October 18, 2000 that attracted thousands of people.

Heather Stewart, a great-great grandaughter of Emily Murphy, with the statue of her ancestor.(Copyright M. Forster)

Barbara Paterson's life-size bronze sculptures have been installed at an elementary school in Edmonton, the St. Albert City Hall and the Ghosts Project in Red Deer. An artist with an international reputation, Barbara Paterson has exhibited her work widely, from Bulgaria to Singapore. Her projects have included a life-size statue of Dr. Moses Coady, founder of the Coady Institute at St. Francis Xavier (unveiled 2007), and a monument in Victoria, B.C. to commemorate the talented artist Emily Carr. The Emily Carr statue was unveiled on October 13th, 2010.

The University of Alberta presented Barbara Paterson with a Distinguished Alumni Award in 2000, and produced a video about her life and work.